Cawker Park to be renamed for Milwaukee jazz legend Al Jarreau

The plans for a mural, new playground, and painted basketball courts at Cawker Park are part of a park revitalization effort.

If you’re passing through the Amani neighborhood, a new, colorful mural may catch your eye.

Tucked in Cawker Park, 2929 N. 30th St., the City of Milwaukee Parks, along with several community partners, are creating a mural to honor the neighborhood.

The plans for the mural, a new playground, and painted basketball courts are part of a park revitalization effort. The city hopes to promote community engagement, improve public spaces, and honor Milwaukee’s cultural heritage. The park will soon be renamed Al Jarreau Park, in honor of the late Grammy award winning Milwaukee- born jazz musician. Who graduated from the former Lincoln High school The project is led by a community mural artist, Tia Richardson.

The park revitalization effort is also being led by Milwaukee Parks, Amani United, the Dominican Center, and Safe & Sound, Inc.

“He was very interested in helping people through music, and he used his art to Inspire others and bring light to the world,” Richardson explained.

After listening sessions with neighborhood residents, Richardson created the design for a mural that honored both the singer and the Amani neighborhood where the parks sits.

“There’s local musicians, the music, the basketball, the beautiful colors, the sense of community. Everything the mural represents in the Amani community,” Leesa McGhee, a lifelong Amani neighborhood resident, said.

Community painting sessions set for Friday, July 20th and Saturday, July 21st invited the neighborhood in to help paint the mural. Lifelong residents, curious kids, and even the neighborhood firefighters stopped by to pitch in.

“Community members can come through here and see how they contributed to something that’s going to be so vibrant and so great,” Barbara Smith, chair for housing and economic development at Amani United, said with a smile.

Over the rest of the month, painting will continue with help from 250 youth from the Earn and Learn Camp Rise on scheduled days.

In collaboration with Activate Co., a creative agency specializing in public art projects, the basketball courts at Cawker Park will also be transformed.

The plans for a mural, new playground, and painted basketball courts at Cawker Park are part of a park revitalization effort.